


Paying the Piper

by iamajdandagreaser



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Eventual Barry Allen/Hartley Rathaway, First Kiss, Hartley Rathaway is actually a nice guy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-11
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-11-12 23:26:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11172303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamajdandagreaser/pseuds/iamajdandagreaser
Summary: When a mission goes sideways, salvation for the Flash comes from the most unexpected of sources.





	Paying the Piper

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RiddlerChic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiddlerChic/gifts).



> Tal bby, here it is at long last!

It had been a routine mission- stop the bad guy, save the day.

Except that Barry was just now coming to in a dark room, his powers somehow being dampened by whatever tech bracelet was clamped around his wrist that his captors were using to keep him from running away. There was a pounding in his head and a sharp pinching pain in his neck where he'd been drugged- stupid Oliver Queen with his abs and arrows had been right- Barry needed to pay more attention.

So for now, he tried to get in touch with his team, only to discover that his coms were gone. Fortunately, his mask was still in place- for now, he guessed. They'd find out who he was sooner or later and then it would all be over.

After what seemed like hours of fruitless escape attempts, Barry simply gave up and hoped Cisco was good enough with a computer to find him.

Approaching footsteps spiked his heart rate, and Barry took a deep breath.

There seemed to be four of them so far, all physically imposing and masked men, looming over him with sneers and cold laughter. Scrabbling for purchase on the cold and wet cement floor, Barry felt the beginnings of panic begin to boil in his chest. 

Suddenly, a high pitched noise somewhere between a wail and a roar erupted in his eardrums. The pain almost unbearable, Barry slammed his hands down over his ears and fell to the floor. The sound went on and on and somewhere in the cloud of pain that was his head, Barry thought he could hear himself screaming.

The noise vanished as quickly as it had come. Gasping for breath, Barry cautiously pulled one hand away to find utter silence on the other side. He slowly turned his head, and saw one of his abductors lying on the floor nearby.

"Don't even try to tell me that you had that, Flash," a familiar drawling voice said over the residual ringing in Barry's ears. Black gloved hands carefully undid the cuff and Barry could feel the speed force surge back into his veins. He vibrated a hand to make sure he wasn't dreaming. 

Speeding to his feet, Barry fought the ringing in his ears to look at his rescuer. A dark hood framed a sarcastically grinning face and Barry suppressed both a groan of annoyance and a yelp of joy.

Who would have guessed that Hartley Rathaway would have come to his aid.

"You're welcome," Hartley said, with his typical grin. "All in a day's work for me."

"I could kiss you right now," Barry blurted out.

Hartley raised an eyebrow. "Really, Flash? This is how you want to thank me?"

Barry began to babble and ramble on about sonic blasts affecting his judgement and how he wasn't thinking clearly, but was soon interrupted by the Pied Piper himself kissing him, Barry Allen firmly on the mouth.

When they finally broke apart, Barry's eyes wide, Hartley grinned. "Time to pay the Piper, Flash," he said, and turned to vanish back into the night.


End file.
